Rafael Nadal cruised into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open after a comfortable 6-2 6-4 6-3 win over Marin Cilic.
Top seed breezes into Australian Open quarter-finals
Rafael Nadal cruised into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open after a comfortable 6-2 6-4 6-3 win over Marin Cilic.
The top seed, who is chasing a fourth consecutive grand slam title, needed a little over two and a half hours to set up a quarter-final against fellow Spaniard David Ferrer.
Nadal seemed off colour as he defeated Bernard Tomic in the previous round but was much closer to top form on Monday and offered Cilic few chances to cause an upset.
The world number one gave a sign of things to come as he broke his Croatian opponent's serve in the opening game and again in game five to race to a 4-1 lead.
He went on to serve out the set and then broke again for a 4-3 lead in the second before going on to take a two-set lead in convincing style.
Break
The third set went much the same way as Nadal again claimed a break of serve in the seventh game and sealed the victory when Cilic served a double fault when match-point down.
Nadal admitted that he was wary of the threat posed by Cilic but says he put in his best performance of the tournament so far to see off the 15th seed.
"Before the match I was a little bit nervous because he is very dangerous and I tried to play with high intensity," he said.
"I am very happy because I played my best match of the year at the Australian Open."
Nadal has been feeling the effects of a virus recently but claims he is now back in prime physical shape.
He added: "I am not sweating that much tonight, in previous days I was sweating like crazy and I was feeling very tired. Today was the first time that I felt perfect physically."
